Princeton University Athletics
Wednesday TigerBlog - First Place
January 07, 2026 | Tiger Blog
It was Game 2 of the ECAC opening round series between Princeton and Colgate. The Tigers had lost the first game in overtime and were down 3-2 in the second game, where a loss would have meant the series. And when TB says "down 3-2," he means "down a goal with 10 seconds to go."
And with five seconds to go, with the clock running. Shockingly, miraculously, heart-stoppingly — Princeton tied it, on an Eric Robinson goal with one second left. Max Veronneau then won it overtime, and Princeton then won Game 3 and the series.
That's the same Eric Robinson who has now played 424 games in the NHL, with 63 goals and 73 assists. Perhaps TB will reach out to Robinson and see where that last-second goal ranks all time for him.
TigerBlog thought of that goal when he watched the Princeton-Harvard men's game Saturday night. This time, Princeton was up 2-0 into the third period, only to have Harvard tie it. Would this game go to overtime?
Nope. Kai Daniels stuffed in the game-winner, assisted by Kai Greaves, with 2.6 seconds to go. Kai from Kai. How many of those have there been all-time?
The 3-2 win completed a weekend sweep of nationally ranked Dartmouth (a 5-4 Princeton win Friday night) and Harvard. The Tiger men have now won five straight and have not lost since Nov. 29.
Princeton, not surprisingly, took two of the ECAC weekly awards, with Tyler Rubin as the top defenseman for the second straight week and Arthur Smith as the top goalie. Rubin had three assists and three blocked shots in the two games, and Smith had 58 saves with the six goals against.
Where are they in the ECAC standings? First place.
Where are the women? Also first place.
Getting back to the men, they also moved into the national rankings this week, coming in at No. 20 in the USCHO.com poll. It's the first time Princeton has been ranked since November of 2018.
In addition, the National Collegiate Percentage Index ratings have Princeton currently at No. 8. These are the ratings that determine the NCAA tournament field.
Winning streak. National ranking. Princeton up at the top of the standings. This has been a great start to Year 2 under head coach Ben Styer.
This is from the story on goprincetontigers.com about the national ranking:
The Tigers have been dominant at Hobey Baker Rink, winning all eight home games to start the 2025-26 season. Princeton's eight-game winning streak at home to start the season is the longest in the 103-year history of Hobey Baker Rink and is tied with Cornell for the current active longest home winning streak in the nation. Princeton's six consecutive ECAC wins also marks the nation's longest-active conference play winning streak.
The women outscored Stonehill 18-1 over the course of two games at Baker Rink the past weekend. Princeton had eight different players with at least one goal, led by Issy Wunder and MacKenzie Alexander with five each.
Princeton's women are ranked ninth in this week's poll and more importantly eighth in the NPI. This is all under a first-year head coach, Courtney Kessel.
The ECAC men's standings right now have Princeton with 19 points, one ahead of Cornell and Dartmouth and two ahead of Harvard. The women's standings have Princeton with 22 points, ahead of second place Brown (20.5), third place Clarkson (19.5) and then Cornell and Yale (18 each).
Next up will be two road games this weekend for the women (at Union Friday at 6 and RPI Saturday at 3) and two home games for the men (home against RPI Friday and Union Saturday, both at 7).
There is a very, very long way to go between now and March. There's a difference between being in first place in early January and being there as the regular season winds down.
Still, there's also a difference between being in first place in January and being way down the standings, hoping to make a run.
And, of course, what both Princeton teams have definitely done to date is make what comes next pretty exciting. As of early January, you can't ask for much better than what these two teams have given so far.
